Tag: love

Red Rock Wilderness

I love being surrounded by sandstone. I was on vacation this past week in Durango, Colorado and  Moab, Utah.  A couple of weeks ago I was in St. George area and spent a soul satisfying afternoon at Gunlock Falls and Gunlock Reservoir.

Gil, me, Nicole, Jess and Josi near the Colorado River at Corona Arch Trailhead
Gunlock Falls with Gil, Jess, and Josi
Gil and Jess with me at Animas River Days in Durango

I found myself asking, “Why does being in red rock country feel so healing to me?”  I thought a lot about it as I hiked in Arches and Canyonlands, drove on state road 184 in Colorado, paddled down the Upper Animas River and soaked in the hot springs at the Durango Resort. 

Obvious answer would be it is hard to be stressed and anxious surrounded by stunning views of striated sandstone carved for thousands of years of wind and sculpted by water into arches, spires, pinnacles and cliffs. The views always bring peace to my soul.

View towards the La Sals from the Fiery Furnace
Delicate Arch
In the Fiery Furnace
Balanced rocks in the Fiery Furnace
Canyonlands Island in the Sky Grandview Point
View from Grandview Point towards the East
Paddleboarding on Upper Animas River
Bowtie Arch near Corona Arch

I found a book by Terry Tempest Williams called Red Patience and Passion in the Desert. Her words are poetry and speak to me at my core. “Desert as teacher. Desert as mirage. Desert as illusion, largely our own. What you come to see on the surface is not what you come to know. Emptiness in the desert is the fulness of space, a fulness of space that eliminates time. The desert is time, exposed time,  geologic time. One needs time in the desert to see.

I am so grateful to be able to “see” all I have seen the last few days. Each majestic view, small desert flower, sound of birdsong and sigh of the wind is a manifestation to me of God’s love.

Forum: Fighting climate change is loving God’s creations – BYU News

https://news.byu.edu/intellect/forum-fighting-climate-change-is-loving-gods-creations

I heard Katherine Hayhoe speak in April, 2022. I really appreciate her very well-prepared presentations on climate change.

When she first learned how climate change affects the world’s most vulnerable, she asked herself, “What is climate change other than a failure to love?”

That, I believe,says it all.

Zion National Park

Ministering

Rise and Walk by Simon Dewey

President George Albert Smith (1870–1951) said of ministering to others: “Our eternal happiness will be in proportion to the way that we devote ourselves to helping others.” The Divine Mission of Jesus Christ: Minister https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2014/06/the-divine-mission-of-jesus-christ-minister?id=p7&lang=eng#p7

I have been studying from a work book called Learn of Me by Stephanie Dibb Sorensen. She put together scriptures talks and articles about the life and attributes of the Savior based off Topical Guide references on Jesus Christ. I started this study in Septmeber, 2021.

In January 2017, President Russell M. Nelson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave this advice: “Commence tonight to consecrate a portion of your time each week to studying everything Jesus said and did.” He suggested using the Topical Guide to do this. President Nelson in General Conference April 2017 related that he had done this challenge and he had become, “a different man,” as a result of his intensive study.

At first, I only did the study on Sundays but more recently I have tried to do it every day even if just for a few minutes. I am currently studying the attributes of Jesus Christ from a series in 2014 printed for Relief Society Visiting Teaching lessons.

This particular attribute of ministering is one that I have struggled to do consistently in my life. I tell myself that I am here to serve others but far to often my daily actions are selfish and focused on my needs.

Even at work where it is my job to minister to the needs of the sick, I have to make a conscious effort to focus on the needs of the patient and their families versus my need to get ‘my work’ done.

I really love the verse quoted above by President Smith and know that my life has been most rewarding when I am immersed in the ministering to others such as during my mission working in a refugee camp in Thailand, during the time my children were young and sporadically since then when doing intensive service for my Church callings. The other times I truly feel like I am ministering are the nights my family and I make and serve dinner to homeless youth in Salt Lake City.

Navajo Taco and Scone Night at Homeless Youth Resource Center

The effort to serve and the feeling of being of service are worth the ‘sacrifce’ of self, time and resources. I will keep working on developing this attribute in my life every day.